Arsenal Mark on RJT sword Fittings

[Bruce Pennington]

Date side:

[Bruce Pennington]

For those who follow RJT blades & smiths, I want to clarify currently observed blades by smiths Masayoshi.

@mecox @vajo

 

JSI RJT list shows:

Ryu Masayoshi ???

Takahashi Masayoshi 正良 - Aomori

Kosaka Masayoshi 正美 - Osaka

 

What we have, so far, are these:

Masayoshi 正良, Ittosai - Tokushima (source - Mal Cox Article)

Masayoshi 正吉, Oki – Shimane   Slough said "Oki" while Sesko said "Oku"  Don't know which is accurate.  Mei includes "Yakumo" city?

Masayoshi 正美, Kosaka - Osaka

 

Examples

Ittosai Masayoshi (Cox Article)

 

Oki Masayoshi (Smallsword, ebay)

 

Kosaka Masayoshi, (Vajo, NMB)

 

I post this to see if A. I have this right, B. to see if anyone has insights on "Ryu" and "Takahashi", and C. if anyone else has blades from these smiths, I'd love to get photos!

[BANGBANGSAN]

2 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Masayoshi 正良, Ittosai - Tokushima (source - Mal Cox Article)

Examples

Ittosai Masayoshi (Cox Article)

 

Bruce

The kanji is 正茂

[Bruce Pennington]

53 minutes ago, BANGBANGSAN said:

正茂

I scrolled through Sesko's list of "Masa..." smiths and couldn't find any with that kanji.  What is that saying?  Is it a simplified version of "義"?

[BANGBANGSAN]

7 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

I scrolled through Sesko's list of "Masa..." smiths and couldn't find any with that kanji.  What is that saying?  Is it a simplified version of "義"?

東神正茂　Tojin Masashige 。The implified version of "義" is 义

[Bruce Pennington]

Compared to other Masashige on file, and while that "shige" has slight problems (maybe done by an apprentice?) it does match the mei of this Masashige:

 

@mecox

And he's one of those star-stamped smiths not found on the RJT list.

[george trotter]

1 hour ago, Bruce Pennington said:

 (maybe done by an apprentice?)

RJT rules say RJT smiths had to sign and date their swords themselves.